A big night for Logan Couture and more post-game notes

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The story of the night, of course, was Logan Couture. And you can read about it all in your Mercury News. (On-line or in the print edition.)

But exactly a week after that scary encounter with the HP Pavilion boards that left his season in jeopardy, Couture scored twice in the 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night to give him 30 goals on the season. He also had an assist.

His first goal was an up-close shot in the crease off a rebound. His second was a 45-foot laser. And he missed opportunities to score at least two more.

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Truncated quotes will be in the game story. But here are some expanded ones.

Couture on not getting seriously hurt and bouncing right back: “It’s been a crazy week. When that happened, I didn’t know if I would be playing right now. But thankfully I still am.”

Couture on what this means to him: “Getting 30 goals is something that I never thought was possible. It’s been such a great year. In the summer, I’ll probably look back and look at this year and reflect. But right now I’m focused on the rest of the year and the playoffs.”

Oh, and the kid only turns 22 on Monday.

Here’s what Todd McLellan had to say: “Logan has been a real catalyst for us all season. For him to get to 30 is a hell of a reward for a great season to this point. He’s also had some really good help. Clowey has kept track of him all year. They enjoy being around each other and Heater is helping out, too. Those are some big bodies that can go to the net and score between him. It’s just a heck of a line.”

* The Sharks wanted no part of this discussion, but Saturday night was the eighth consecutive time they have beaten the Coyotes. Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe both went so far to say that they had no idea about that streak. (Call me skeptical.)

The fact that the Sharks and Coyotes play twice more to end the season, of course, is probably why the players don’t want to say too much about their domination.

On this night, the injury-depleted Coyotes were missing three centers (Martin Hanzal, Vernon Fiddler and Lauri Korpikoski) and needed a big game from star goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. They didn’t get it. There were rebounds to be had, and the Sharks didn’t waste their opportunities.

Couture: “I felt Bryzgalov wasn’t really seeing the puck well tonight. He was giving up some rebounds and that fourth one was kind of knuckler that came up on him. I’m not even sure he saw it because I had to shoot through a screen. I took advantage of that. I was as surprised as anyone that it went in.”

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Added McLellan: “Bryzgalov is such a good goaltender. If you don’t take advantage of a second or third chance, you’re probably not going to win the game. We were fortunate to get a couple off his pads. If you decide to play on the outside against him, you have no chance. We decided to go inside on him.”

* After Saturday night, the Sharks find themselves still in third place of the Western Conference. They are tied with Detroit with 97 points, but the Red Wings have a game in hand.

But the Sharks did open up a four-point cushion in the Pacific over the Coyotes (93). The Los Angeles Kings (92) collected a valuable two points with a 4-1 victory over Colorado. But it came at a cost. Leading scorer Anze Kopitar was lost for at least six weeks with a broken right ankle.

With Justin Williams going down with a dislocated shoulder earlier in the week, the Kings have just lost their two top scorers. Talk about bad breaks.

It’s also a reminder of how fickle hockey can be. Couture looks like he’s going to be out for an extended period of time. But then he’s right back on the ice. You just never know.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” McLellan said. “Injuries are going to happen, although you hope they don’t. But you have to move on. Knock on wood, but if we happen to get into that situation, and we’re running out of days to get healthy, you have to keep marching on.”

When Clowe, who already had a goal and two assists, got into a late-game scrap with Paul Bissonnette, it gave him his second career Gordie Howe. Holy informs me that it also is the 11th in Sharks franchise history.

Clowe was coming to the defense of defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was in a shoving match with Bissonnette.

* There was an announced crowd of 16,394 at Jobing.com Arena. It was a good showing for the Coyotes, who are struggling to stay in Arizona. But you couldn’t help but notice all the empty suites in the building.

Earlier this month Bissonnette, who has a big following on Twitter, was asked by The Arizona Republic about the franchise maybe moving back to Winnipeg. His quotes were pretty funny.

“It would be exciting to be the team that went back to Canada,” he said. “C’mon, we’d be treated like gods. I mean, the big difference is the weather. The weather is awful, but you know that, and it’s like everything would be opposite in Canada. The fans would be the opposite. The media would be different. There’s no pressure from the media here, and it only comes from inside the room.”

He also talked about the difference between Canadian and American girls.

“The girls are undercover hot in Canada,” Bissonnette said. “Besides, we’d be the only game in town. I’m sure we’d have first dibs.”

* The Sharks don’t play again until Thursday when they return to HP Pavilion against Dallas. (And nothing particularly special about playing the Stars after what happened the last time these two teams played, eh?)

Sharks captain Joe Thornton said he believes the unusual, late-season break will be a positive for the team.

“It will probably be good for guys to get some rest, heal some injuries and be ready for the stretch run,” Thornton said.

Anyway, the Sharks aren’t practicing Sunday. And when they return to the ice on Monday, so will DP. Thanks again for keeping the Working the Corners house clean while dad was away for a few days.

Trust me, you don’t want to see DP when he’s angry.

Mark Emmons

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nolimits, yeah it’s much more “normal” in the Eastern and pretty wild in the Western. It might beg the old question, is it better to get a little rest before the playoffs (EC teams) or fight until the last days and have momentum (WC teams).

Vancouver has run away with the West but benefited from the weak competition in their own division, with no other team in the playoff picture…especially Colorado and Edmonton being the conference doormats.
Contrast that to the Sharks, whose division has only Dallas out of a playoff seed though only by two points. And the two at the bottom of the Pacific (no pun intended), Dallas and Anaheim, have winning records both at home AND on the road.

bruce

GP…ya got me! But, isn’t it peculiar how Nemo’s pretty much the Golden Child these days? Hope he gets hot in the playoffs. He’s apparently all we’ve got. God forbid he lets one in off Boyle’s stick in OT. Then, let the crucifixions begin!

MikeR

“I’m sure we’d have first dibs.”

So … “first dibs” is ok, and “sloppy seconds” gets you a suspension?

Johnny San Jose

bruce — I admire you sticking to your guns and opinion of Niemi. I was with you at the beginning of the season and thought that Nittymaaki was the more competent goalie. I still feel that Nitty can do the job and to be honest, I think the Sharks are in a good spot with this goalie tandem.

I did have to back off the gas a little bit about The Urban Legend™. Believe me… I still have my reservations about the guy. Hell… this little scoring streak is how he got his “legend” in the first place a couple of years ago.

Hopefully it’ll all work out and no one will have to hear, “I told you so”.

NickG

JB, I think the last few years have proven that having to fight your way up until the end of the season, instead of coasting, is better for the playoffs.

hockeyrocks

#46 nolimits

Wings have 3 games remaining vs the Hawks ( one of which will be played this afternoon).

The Hawks are desperately hanging on to 8th seed by a claw. If they lose those 3 games against the Wings in regulation the Hawks’ PO hopes might be kaputz.

Hey all, good chat about WPG….but I still think they can support it…i mean there are still folks out in Hartford that want the Whalers back.

When it comes down to it, Canadiens love hockey. Winnipeg has a tradition of holding a hockey team, so it’s not like they would be moving to a city or place where hockey and the team’s brand need to become embedded with the city. Plus who wouldn’t want to have a team that is already very good? Denver (which originally had the Rockies) really benefitted from getting a very good Quebec team.

Plus, Edmonton and Calgary probably would be categorized as small markets, but they seem to be thriving.

Again, I would rather the team stay in Phoenix because of the travel it will save the Sharks, but another team in hockey mad country or city would be great to see…

MikeR

@Tutone37

> Plus who wouldn’t want to have a team that is already very good

Edmonton?

NickG

SHARKSSS : Ha. Tony Vu. He put together some classic illustrations last year. The Shark and the bloody Red Wing was my favorite.

bruce

JSJ…Some of my opinion of Niemi is just backlash to the crap said about Nabby through the years in here. Some of it is due to the fact that the guy either has or fails to show ANY personality at all! Not good, not bad, just zero that I’ve seen. But most of my criticism stems from the nature of his style, the same style that worked for Hiller in the po’s vs. us and worked for Nemo last year. Go down on all ocasions, cover low wth your stick parallel to the ice ala Hasek, and use the glove sparingly and only play the puck to fluff it off into the corners. Just a personal taste on my part.